NORMAL – They’ve been playing football at Chicago Christian since 1968, when the Knights, long a basketball power, kicked off with a sophomore team.
The varsity squad began in 1969. The IHSA began the state football playoffs five years later. For a long time, Chicago Christian and football championship games were mutually exclusive concepts.
Friday, those two worlds collided, and Chicago Christian came out on top. The Knights, in their first appearance in a championship game, dominated downstate powerhouse Maroa-Forsyth 47-0 in the Class 2A final at Illinois State’s Hancock Stadiun.
With a squad of 35 motivated by first-year coach C.J. Cesario, with nine players starting on both sides of the ball, with Kenny Jager running vigorously behind linemen like Brock Sperling and quarterback-defensive back Christian Flutman contributing immensely both ways, the Knights piled up 446 yards on offense while holding the Trojans to 23 yards, a record low for a 2A championship across 50 years of play.
“Our theme for this year was, ‘Tough people win,’” Cesario said. “That’s simply who they are, and a huge part of why this happened. From Week 2 of the playoffs at Tri-Valley, that solidified a different level of belief, and then to the quarters and the semis.”
In capturing the first boys team championship since the school opened in 1918, sixth-seeded Christian (13-1) was tough from the start. Second-seeded Maroa-Forsyth (12-2) managed one first down in the first half, on its second possession. The Knights, ignoring the 7 degree wind chill, scored on their first two possessions and their last of the half for a 21-0 lead at the break, then scored on the first possession of the third quarter to effectively bury the Trojans.
Start with the rushing game, in which Jager piled up 223 yards and a memorably gritty touchdown on 38 carries. Jager scored on third-and-3 from the 27 to open the scoring, crashing around right end and dragging defender Owen Smith the last 8 yards or so into the end zone with him.
“I saw the hole, ran through it and put my head down,” Jager said. “I felt him a little bit. It happens a lot. When I get the ball in my hands, I feel like a whole different person.”
Flutman, who ran for three touchdowns and threw for two more, made it 13-0 on a 39-yard cutback up the middle with 25 seconds left in the first quarter.
“It’s so nice having a dominant running back,” Flutman said. “I’ll fake it to him and have a wide-open hole with my pulling guards. They’re paving a path for me.”
Flutman connected with Niko Griggs for a 59-yard touchdown for a 21-0 lead with 15 seconds left in the half. And Griggs wasn’t even the intended receiver. Let Flutman begin to tell the story of the Immaculate Deflection.
“I saw Eddie (Van Dellen) wide open and I kinda lofted it a little bit,” Flutman said. “I saw a safety just rock him. The ball flies up in the air.”
The ball was swatted by linebacker Dilsharan Singh, but he didn’t get all of it, and Griggs barged in to grab the ball.
“I saw Christian scrambling and I ran upfield,” Griggs said. “I thought it was going to be picked so I ran to make the tackle and the defender just tipped it right into my arms.
“My first touchdown all year,” Griggs said. “I had one Week 1 and it got called back.”
The rout was on. Flutman’s 18-yard dash on the first series of the second half accelerated it. His third score, on a 9-yard run, expanded the margin to 33 points late in the third, and his 23-yard touchdown pass to Jared Hall for a 40-0 lead set up the running clock with 5:08 remaining. Blake Denman scored on 2-yard plunge with 3:07 left.
The stats won’t be recalled nearly as long as the feeling.
“My dad (Ken) played at Chicago Christian, and I’ve already seen him crying,” said Jager, who ends the season with 2,025 yards and 28 touchdowns. “My little brothers (Henry and Levi) are on the team and I’m so happy they can experience something like this.”
“It’s a whole new feeling,” said Flutman, who passed for 25 touchdowns and 1,875 yards. “When I lay down, it’s going to hit me and I’ll be bawling my eyes out.”
“It began in the weight room,” Sperling said of the success. “We had these MoG sessions – Men of Grit. We’d come in before school and get a hard workout in.
“Gee, I’ve played my last high school football game,” Sperling added. “Our family’s always been all-CCHS. My grandfather made the first tackle in the school’s first football game (in 1968). At least that’s the story.”
That’s a good story. The one Sperling and his cohorts have written is better.